EDITORIAL — Heed such warnings

It is possible that those who lost their homes after a fire recently hit two sitios in Barangay Looc, Mandaue City, will no longer be allowed to rebuild there.

According to Looc Barangay Captain Raul Kevin Cabahug, the two sitios and another one beside these are considered danger zones.

“Kay danger zones man ni and the lot is owned by the government, possible dili na sila pabalikon og tukod,” he said in a report in this newspaper.

However, even as he said those words, people who lost their homes to last Tuesday’s fire were already rebuilding, even as others are taking shelter at the Looc barangay gymnasium and the Cesar Cabahug Elementary School.

Those who plan to rebuild their homes should heed the advice for them to no longer return to the area.

There are reasons why some areas are considered not suitable for human settlement. These are areas where natural disasters frequently happen or are just hazardous areas like riverbanks or esteros in urban areas or places where the ground is unstable like in mountainous areas.

These can also be near infrastructure or natural features that can pose danger to life, or places where help cannot be offered quickly.

Of course, we realize the value of a community. People want to live close to their source of livelihood or their friends and family. Being surrounded by people you love can become a source of strength. It can also be that they really don’t have a choice where to build their homes as they can find no other place.

However, if living somewhere comes at the risk of constant danger not just to one’s home and possessions but also to one’s very life then the tradeoff might not be worth it at all.

There is always wisdom in heeding such warnings as danger zones and no-build zones.

That landslide disaster in Barangay Masara, Maco, Davao de Oro, that killed scores of people last month would have been prevented if people hadn’t built their homes on what had been actually declared a no-build zone since 2008.